Photo: Copyright 2010 CelebrityLIFE/PSmylie

Move over Gordon Ramsey tell Jamie Oliver the news – what’s all this then? Robert Plant caught readying an appearance on Celebrity Masterchef or Hells Kitchen? Will he be squeezing those lemons till the juice runs down Gordon’s pan? Alas all is not what it might appear  and before Jamie gets into a chorus of ‘Save me a slice of  your custard pie’’ let me explain – this candid photo found Robert in jovial mood before his appearance on the BBC One Show a couple of weeks ago. Coming out of his hotel Robert posed for a photographer friend of ours and decided to bring in an unassuming chef who was outside a nearby restaurant in to the picture as well. More raising soufflé than raising sand….

Anyway, away from the puns…So here I am surrounded by boxes of the freshly printed Tight But Loose 26. All those years back when I was making those pilgrimages to Earls Court, It would probably have been hard to imagine that the world of Led Zeppelin would still be spinning vividly around me as I moved into my mid 50’s. I was too busy soaking up every moment of those five glorious days.

Incredibly that world does still spin ever onward and in a world of constant change (Collation anyone?), the ongoing appreciation of this wonderful band  is something to behold.  After all the challenges of recent months, it’s a very good feeling to be wading through the end product of a new TBL magazine. This one ushers in a new era and heralds the first full colour issue. It all started back in January with a blank canvas and a number of obstacles to overcome, not least the search for a new designer. Step forward Mick Lowe of Studiomix here in Bedford. I’ve known Mick for years and he has been involved in all manner of design work including many a record sleeve back in the 80s and 90s. He also worked on many projects with my good friend Dec including his New Order book. It’s been quite a journey working with him on the new TBL and he has been an absolute hero in bringing it all to fruition.

Other heroes of TBL: Gary Foy for his unwavering support in so many areas and sterling work maintaining of the TBL site , Graeme Hutchinson for advise and support, Jez Firth for his help,  Mike Tremaglio, Stephen Humphries, Gerard Sparaco  Nigel Paling and Lorraine Robertson for their contributions to the magazine content.

I’ll be spending the next few days shipping out the magazines – so hold on it will be on the way. Get ready to soak up this latest outpouring with an appropriate playlist to accompany it all – Royal Albert Hall 70,  some Page & Plant live in 95, Now & Zen, Fate Of Nations and Mighty ReArranger will reflect some of the content of this new TBL and that’s a bit of what will be resounding around here as magazines get stuffed (as it were!) into envelopes.

If you haven’t subscribed –and unfortunately there’s a sizable audience who visit this site that haven’t – well this issue is a great time to come on board. It’s a hard cold fact that currently the TBL magazine reaches a quite minuscule readership in the scheme of things. My immediate mission is to improve that and reach out to many more visitors to this site and beyond. So make the effort to order the TBL magazine – it’s the lasting tangible collectable and I think it will considerably enrich your appreciation of this world of Zep.  By doing so you will also be going some way to ensuring this  web site continues to inform and entertain. The TBL magazine needs your support so order it now and thanks in advance.

I’d also appreciate the spreading of the word that the new mag is ready to go – put it on your Facebook pages, news groups, etc. There are I’m sure many lapsed buyers out there who will delight in this new all colour issue.  So shout it from the rooftops and beyond…

Quite a bit has gone on here in the last couple of weeks – there’s been Spurs admirably finishing fourth to qualify for the Champions League. Long time TBL reader and Man City fan Paul Aspey was a bit over confident on the night Spurs triumphed 1-0 sending me an email predicting doom – but he was a gracious loser!. There’s been a couple of birthdays –Tom Locke joined the 53 club and we had a quick beer on his birthday on May 5th – he shares his birthday with a an important Zep milestone, the record breaking Tampa gig in 1973.

On Saturday May 8th the good lady Janet and I had our first night out in ages celebrating Terry Boud’s birthday over at the local White Horse with his wife Marian – the pub was transformed into a bit of a rock gig in a  Help For Heroes charity night – the very competent band we saw included apparently someone from the Wildhearts – and Terry and I found ourselves grooving to the likes of  Thin Lizzy’s  Boys Are Back In Town and The Rocker as a giant PA filled the area normally reserved for the reading club.  Last Saturday I watched  the surprisingly entertaining FA Cup Final on Saturday and then the boy Adam and I ventured to the end of season Brickhill Wanderer’s Presentation Awars night in the evening where his 100 appearances for the club was recognised. A few beers were drunk to mark the season’s end and we ended up at team manager Dave Collins house where a bit of vintage Stones accompanied the banter- and a Sunday hangover of course followed.

There’s still a backlog of vinyl and CD’s/DVDs I need to catch up on here, and I’m promising myself a day to do that though with the current workload that seems a way off.  As of this morning , I’m also currently on less that 100% hearing as my old re-occuring ear trouble has flared up overnight and my left ear is blocked – I put it down to having my ears right next to the speakers listening to Presence over and over back in 1976. The Doctors surgery informed me this morning that due to holidays, they have no nurse available for 3 weeks to syringe said left ear. I’ll have to hope for a cancellation as it’s quite sore and uncomfortable  and until I get it sorted  I’m listening in enforced mono.

Andrew Ricci send over the very fine Greasy Truckers live Roundhouse compilation  double album CD reissue –which I nearly brought for £1.50 back in 1972. It includes a set from the excellent Welsh band Man which has led to a quest to here reclaim their Live At Paget Rooms Penarth and Christmas At The Patti original vinyl issues which I recklessly sold in 1974 when the need for every Zep bootleg was a priority. I’ll also at some point be getting in to full on Exile On Main Street mode with The Rolling Stones re issue out this week. I enjoyed the documentary on the Radio One Breakfast Show by with Chris Moyles, (though the accompanying 20th Radio One anniversary edition of Wogan they showed from 1987 was pure cornball). It was also quite riveting watching political history unfold last Tuesday night on live TV when Gordon Brown to paraphrase the singer in 1975, said words to the effect ‘’If you see David Cameron tell him we’ve gone’’.

Sad to hear today of the  death of Ronnie James Dio. I can’t say I’ve followed his work personally, but he was  a singer much admired by many people I know. This will certainly touch a chord with my friends Terry Boud and Jerry Bloom.

Sam has been back here for a week revising for exams and she goes back to Norwich later this afternoon. It would have been Ken’s 92nd birthday today so we will be acknowledging that with some flowers on the grave later on.

Right it’s back to packing the latest TBL.  I have an abundance of British album cover stamps to use on the envelopes though not quite enough Zep 4 ones to go around.  If you end up with Primal Scream’s Screamadelica, or  Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells it’s nothing personal.

Credible stamps or not – TBL 26 will soon be landing on your door mat.  Let me know what you think of this latest TBL outpouring.

Hey I got through all this with only a couple of Earls Court mentions…

There’s plenty of that old waffle elsewhere!